Bihar priest beaten for pushing Dalit woman out of temple

Patna, Oct 18 (IANS) A priest was beaten up by a group of men after he pushed a Dalit woman and forcibly stopped her from offering prayers at a temple in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur district, police said on Sunday.

Rishikesh Jha, the priest of the Sankatmochan Hanuman Baba Anandeshwar Mahadev Mandir in Muzaffarpur, about 70 km from here, pushed her out of the temple, police said.

“The priest’s behaviour angered Dalits so much that they attacked him,” police said.

The woman, Anita, has also lodged a a police complaint against Jha, who, however, denied the allegations against him.